Alan Carr's Summertime Specstacular was broadcast on 8 June 2012, during the week of celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Carr was joined by guests David Walliams, Justin Bieber, The Saturdays, the cast of Made in Chelsea, Amy Macdonald, Carol Vorderman, Paddy McGuinness, Christian Jessen and Rizzle Kicks. Carr was also visited by Russell Brand via video link. The special was watched by 1.746 million viewers, the second most watched broadcast on Channel 4 that week.

For the second New Year Specstacular, Carr was joined by guests Melanie Sykes, Jonathan Ross, Jimmy Carr, Jack Whitehall, Christine Bleakley, Gok Wan and Rylan Clark. Bruno Mars, DJ Fresh and Ms. Dynamite provided live music performing their tracks, "Locked Out of Heaven", "Young Girls" and "Gold Dust". At the end of the show, Carr performed "Rapper's Delight" live. Party games included Olympics Musical Chairs, Snog Marry Kill, Bash The Boris, New Year's Revolutions, Antony Worrall Thompson's Bag Of Swag Eat Off, Truth or Luge, Rebekahroo, Have I Got New Years News For You, Sketches and spoofs included Carr impersonating The Queen, Harry Styles, Felix Baumgartner, Kate Middleton, 999: What's Your Emergency?, Brad Pitt, Sinitta, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Jessie J, Julie Goodyear, Fifty Shades of Grey, Olympic Volunteers, James Bond, Clare Balding, Skyfall and The Great British Bake Off. Other appearances were made by Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Jamie Laing. The special was watched by an average of 1.9 million with an 11% share. The 15-minute viewing peak was 2.4 million.